Shamanic Journeys

Shamanic journeys are an experiential opportunity to access what I call the vastness of being: that 98% of reality that is unseen and contains vast potential. Connect with your soul and your original intention when you were born into this body; contact your guides, allies, power animals and others who want to assist you on your path; access other lives, other realms, other planes of existence; tap into your inner wisdom and your potential in this lifetime.

You must be willing to let go of voices of the rational brain and sink into a deep place where you allow the formless consciousness That-you-truly-are to take over and give you what you need. Ultimately this work/play helps you to let go of anxiety and uncertainty in your daily life so that you can consistently operate from a place of trust, knowing that there is unlimited support and love for you from other realms.

The ‘journey’ is different for everyone: it is not prescribed in any way, and may not be experienced as movement – sometimes people simply feel a deep sense of peace. The drumming may facilitate a shift in the electro-magnetic grid of the body. Sometimes it is necessary for people to fall asleep in order to let that happen! Do not imagine that nothing has happened just because you have no specific words for your experience, and don’t spend a lot of time searching for words to describe what has happened. Sometimes it is beyond the ability of the rational brain to put into words.

When I am leading the journeys with people who are physically present, I start with an explanation of the process, an invocation, a brief introductory visualisation, and then twenty minutes of drumming, which carries the participants. There is a discussion afterwards.

When I am leading a journey on-line, please make sure you are in a place where you will not be disturbed and make yourself comfortable, lying down or sitting or even standing. I keep the explanation short at the beginning, and there is no discussion afterwards, as it sometimes takes people quite a while to come out of the journey space into a space where they can talk. So when the drumming is done, I go straight into singing the closing song. I will be offering a discussion later, on-line, on the Spiritual Guidance Network (http://spiritualguidance.proboards.com/). Individuals who wish to discuss their experiences with me can always book a mentoring session here.

The drumming is loud and fast — dive into that sound and let it carry you. If you still find you cannot let go, imagine yourself falling off a cliff or diving into a cave or running so fast you begin to fly. The guided visualisation before the drumming is designed to help people to go to a deep place, but if it doesn’t work for you, don’t bother to try and follow it. If you already have guides who are always with you, that’s great, I only recommend that if they appear in a different form, allow that to be what it is. Our guides can take many forms.

Occasionally, your body takes this opportunity to get your attention. If you feel discomfort or pain in some part of your body, don’t ignore it; go deeply into it until you are in the spaces between the molecules. Allow what is required to come to you there. It may come in words or by some other method.

You may meet various beings on your journey — feel free to address them and ask any questions you may have, or ask for help with something that is troubling you. However, in other realms, rules about being polite don’t apply and so you may not get an answer. Also, be aware that All-that-you-are may be showing things you need to pay attention to. If you don’t understand, ask for clarification. It may take weeks, or longer, to integrate and comprehend everything that happens on a journey.

Occasionally something difficult may come up. You are in control, so if you want to change what is going on you can do so simply by stating your preference to be in a place where you can relax and be at ease. However, as human beings, we do sometimes have to go through difficult stuff as part of our personal evolution, so you may occasionally want to stay with it. It’s up to you, there is no judgment either way.

And sometimes we need to learn not to take life so seriously. This process can simply be fun, and that is fine!

“Mikaya Heart is appropriately named, because her heart is big enough to hold fast a secure and sacred space so that adventurous people may safely journey in unseen realms to the beat of her drum.”Dayana Jon, medium, visionary, and spiritual teacher

“I have been on several journeys led by Mikaya and each one has been deeply useful, very moving and very centering. To say I am grateful for the insights I gained from the journeys is an understatement; they have impacted my life immensely and changed me in subtle, profound, and wonderful ways.”Lisa Marie Porter, Texas.

“Mikaya Heart’s depth of wisdom and non-judgmental compassion make her a singularly talented guide for journeying in the psychic realms.”Jesse Cougar, California

“Mikaya Heart’s work is about expanding awareness and connecting with the greater good, which enables her to embrace fear and enter the unknown. Her willingness to share her familiarity with spirit and her journey to the source is a gift to all of us.”Zoe Balfour, teacher and energy worker, California.

Traditional Shamanic journeying:

I learned journeying first in the eighties, when I was studying Angeles Arrien’s Four-Fold Way. Since then I have led countless journeys, and have developed my own style. But there is still much to be learned from traditional methods.

Shamanic journeying was and still is utilized extensively by shamans from indigenous cultures all over the world. They use the sound of the drum, or another instrument, to carry them to other realms of existence where they can do healing work that affects this so-called ordinary realm of existence. It may involve relating to power animals who help to get rid of negative energies that are making someone sick, or bring back parts of a person’s soul that were lost in the course of that individual’s life.

The same kind of journeying can be used by individuals. I strongly recommend it as a method of accessing the vastness of being, otherwise known as one’s inner wisdom. It is a little like a guided visualization, except that no one apart from yourself is guiding it. For that reason it is profoundly self-empowering. The journey is similar to the kind of dreaming we do when we are asleep. You might think of it like lucid dreaming, although it is easier for most of us than lucid dreaming, which requires a lot of practice. Just as you can ask for an answer to a question before you go to sleep, and then find the answer supplied either in a dream or simply as a knowing that is with you when you wake up, so you can ask a question and then go on a shamanic journey to find the answer. However, the usefulness of journeying is often simply about opening up to the existence of realities beyond this physical world we know so well.

Traditionally, people would go to one of three places when they journeyed: the upper world, the lower world, or the middle world, which is simply present reality. In other words, when you go to the middle world, you stay right here, and that means this is right where you need to be. The upper world is a landscape where you are high up, and often flying; the lower world is where you are down underneath, often underwater or under the ground. None of the three are any better than another. In reality, my journeys are frequently a mix of the upper and lower worlds. They often involve going to some fantastic kind of landscape where I meet interesting beings. Usually I can address these beings with my questions and receive profound answers, either in words or in symbolic actions. Once, as I was swimming underwater—where I found I could breathe easily—a swordfish came up and sliced me open (painlessly) up the middle. This action was repeated four times during the journey. Clearly I was being told I needed to open up.

People journey to other sounds as well as the drum—rattles, didjeridoos, and even singing. Tapes of drumming and rattling specifically for journeying are available, although it is often easier to take off when a live person is right there making the sound. I was once catapulted into another reality—or perhaps more accurately, another place and time—by the sound of a Tibetan bowl. I became the sound of the bowl, which was quite an astounding experience, and then the sound came with me, as an instrument of healing, to a place that needed that healing. A journey into another state of consciousness can be induced by other means than sound—our sleeping dreams, some daydreams, past life regression, hypnotic trances, and guided visualizations are kinds of journeying. A picture, a word, a smell—anything can suddenly transport us to another reality if we have the propensity to go there.

I recommend journeying in a group, where you all get to talk about your experiences afterwards, since no group ever comes together by accident. You will find that whatever others have to say is often valuable and relevant to you. I have drummed many times for groups, and I usually do it for twenty minutes. I’ve also drummed for healers who are journeying to retrieve soul parts for others, which is sometimes a lot longer than twenty minutes.

It is not necessary to believe in the concept of journeying before you take one–it’s enough to be willing to give it a try. If you find it useful and interesting, you’ll want to do it again. Some people find that their rational brains will not let them relax into the journey. In that case, you need to set a very clear intention that you want to journey, firmly instructing your rational brain to take a back seat for twenty minutes.

Where are these journeys taking us? Most humans believe that this physical world we call Earth is the limit of our reality. We don’t have language to explain things that don’t fit into it. Are these really different worlds we are visiting, perhaps different planets—or planes of consciousness? Are they different realms of awareness? Are we time-traveling? Are we going through shifts of consciousness that allow us suddenly to become sentient of other times and places? Are they parallel realities, existing in different dimensions? Are other planes of reality, normally invisible to us, intertwined with this one? And what on Earth (or anywhere else) does all that mean, anyway?

I don’t know the answers to these questions. My rational brain cannot compute what occurs on these kinds of journeys. I only know that they are a wonderfully empowering source of wisdom and joy, and a very useful tool as we shift into new ways of being.